Reds' bats frozen on chilly Boston night
BOSTON -- The Reds did make some contact off David Wells on Tuesday night.
Any Fenway Park patrons who came up with foul balls have the souvenirs to prove it.
"Once [Wells] did leave [his pitches] out over the middle, we hit him pretty well," Rich Aurilia said. "But we hit them off someone's head in the stands."
They don't give out runs for such bean balls, and they don't give out wins to teams that notch just one hit over the course of a night.
So when the Reds managed but a single base hit -- literally, a single base hit, as in Ryan Freel's sixth-inning single -- off Wells and the Red Sox on Tuesday night, their 7-0 loss at Fenway was signed, sealed and delivered.
One is a lonely number, and the Reds were a lonely team on this night.
They were also a team with no shortage of praise for the left-handed Wells (5-4), whose seven innings of work were a study in how to avoid keeping the basepaths at his historic home park from becoming a tourist trap.
"Sometimes you've got to tip your hat," a hatless Freel said. "And my hat is tipped."
The scales were not tipped in right-hander Luke Hudson's favor. With Wells holding the Reds hitless through 5 2/3 innings, Hudson was asked to be nothing short of perfect in just his second big-league start of the season and just his third competitive outing.
It wasn't going to happen.
Hudson (1-1) ran into trouble in the second inning, walking two batters and letting the Sox load the bases on Jason Varitek's single. When Bill Mueller ripped a two-run single and Johnny Damon threw in an RBI double to make it 3-0, the Reds were already on the path to their 11th loss in their last 12 road games.
"It's just the old saying that walks will kill you," Hudson said. "The guys I walked ended up scoring. In that second inning, a couple batters slipped away and I fell out of that little groove. It came back to haunt me."
But it was Wells who haunted the Reds and pounded the outside corners.
By taking advantage of an often-generous outside strike zone, Wells seemed to have no trouble keeping the ball down and away.
"If he's getting a pitch, he's going to keep throwing it as long as they're calling it," said Aurilia, who was teammates with Wells in San Diego for the second half of last season. "That's the sign of a smart and a good pitcher."
Wells' only mistake through 5 2/3 innings was when he plunked Sean Casey in the fourth. A blink of an eye -- or, at the least, a trip to the hot-dog stand -- was enough for one to miss the Reds' half of an inning.
But just when it seemed like Wells might be on the way to a career highlight similar to his '98 perfect game with the Yankees, along came Freel in the sixth. He slapped Wells' 0-2 sinker into shallow right for the Reds' lone hit on this chilly Boston night.
Ryan Freel / CF
Born: 03/08/76
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 180 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R
More info:
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"I dove in and kind of cheated on that pitch," Freel said. "I was able to get some wood on it. I was looking for the outside pitch."
By that point, Hudson's pitching was over for the night. Though the right-hander settled in nicely following that rough second inning, manager Dave Miley pulled him after just five innings and 81 pitches, citing the cold air and a conservative pitch count as the reasons why.
"Even on a warmer night, he probably would have only went out there for one more inning," Miley said. "We're trying to keep him around the century mark [in terms of pitch count] right now."
But it really didn't matter who Miley had on the mound, because Wells was untouchable.
"It was the David Wells show," Miley said. "He was right on us, and we didn't have a lot of good passes at him. He had good movement, spotting the ball everywhere."
After Ryan Wagner let two runs across in the sixth and Kent Mercker served up another pair in the seventh, the Reds went down in order against Mike Timlin and Keith Foulke, sealing their first one-hit performance since a 3-0 loss to the Marlins on May 26, 2004.
So while bad pitching is the main culprit behind the Reds' 6-23 road record this season, good pitching -- namely, Wells' pitching -- was the reason for this latest defeat.
"Sometimes you've got to give the opposing pitcher credit," Miley said. "As well as we were swinging the bats coming in, sometimes you've got to give the opposing guys credit."
Source: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/
Any Fenway Park patrons who came up with foul balls have the souvenirs to prove it.
"Once [Wells] did leave [his pitches] out over the middle, we hit him pretty well," Rich Aurilia said. "But we hit them off someone's head in the stands."
They don't give out runs for such bean balls, and they don't give out wins to teams that notch just one hit over the course of a night.
So when the Reds managed but a single base hit -- literally, a single base hit, as in Ryan Freel's sixth-inning single -- off Wells and the Red Sox on Tuesday night, their 7-0 loss at Fenway was signed, sealed and delivered.
One is a lonely number, and the Reds were a lonely team on this night.
They were also a team with no shortage of praise for the left-handed Wells (5-4), whose seven innings of work were a study in how to avoid keeping the basepaths at his historic home park from becoming a tourist trap.
"Sometimes you've got to tip your hat," a hatless Freel said. "And my hat is tipped."
The scales were not tipped in right-hander Luke Hudson's favor. With Wells holding the Reds hitless through 5 2/3 innings, Hudson was asked to be nothing short of perfect in just his second big-league start of the season and just his third competitive outing.
It wasn't going to happen.
Hudson (1-1) ran into trouble in the second inning, walking two batters and letting the Sox load the bases on Jason Varitek's single. When Bill Mueller ripped a two-run single and Johnny Damon threw in an RBI double to make it 3-0, the Reds were already on the path to their 11th loss in their last 12 road games.
"It's just the old saying that walks will kill you," Hudson said. "The guys I walked ended up scoring. In that second inning, a couple batters slipped away and I fell out of that little groove. It came back to haunt me."
But it was Wells who haunted the Reds and pounded the outside corners.
By taking advantage of an often-generous outside strike zone, Wells seemed to have no trouble keeping the ball down and away.
"If he's getting a pitch, he's going to keep throwing it as long as they're calling it," said Aurilia, who was teammates with Wells in San Diego for the second half of last season. "That's the sign of a smart and a good pitcher."
Wells' only mistake through 5 2/3 innings was when he plunked Sean Casey in the fourth. A blink of an eye -- or, at the least, a trip to the hot-dog stand -- was enough for one to miss the Reds' half of an inning.
But just when it seemed like Wells might be on the way to a career highlight similar to his '98 perfect game with the Yankees, along came Freel in the sixth. He slapped Wells' 0-2 sinker into shallow right for the Reds' lone hit on this chilly Boston night.
Ryan Freel / CF
Born: 03/08/76
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 180 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R
More info:
Player page
Stats | Splits
Gallery
Team Site | Shop
"I dove in and kind of cheated on that pitch," Freel said. "I was able to get some wood on it. I was looking for the outside pitch."
By that point, Hudson's pitching was over for the night. Though the right-hander settled in nicely following that rough second inning, manager Dave Miley pulled him after just five innings and 81 pitches, citing the cold air and a conservative pitch count as the reasons why.
"Even on a warmer night, he probably would have only went out there for one more inning," Miley said. "We're trying to keep him around the century mark [in terms of pitch count] right now."
But it really didn't matter who Miley had on the mound, because Wells was untouchable.
"It was the David Wells show," Miley said. "He was right on us, and we didn't have a lot of good passes at him. He had good movement, spotting the ball everywhere."
After Ryan Wagner let two runs across in the sixth and Kent Mercker served up another pair in the seventh, the Reds went down in order against Mike Timlin and Keith Foulke, sealing their first one-hit performance since a 3-0 loss to the Marlins on May 26, 2004.
So while bad pitching is the main culprit behind the Reds' 6-23 road record this season, good pitching -- namely, Wells' pitching -- was the reason for this latest defeat.
"Sometimes you've got to give the opposing pitcher credit," Miley said. "As well as we were swinging the bats coming in, sometimes you've got to give the opposing guys credit."
Source: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/
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